diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/routing/CustomRouteTest.java b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/routing/CustomRouteTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..dc92ace228
--- /dev/null
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/java/akka/routing/CustomRouteTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+/**
+ * Copyright (C) 2009-2012 Typesafe Inc. <http://www.typesafe.com>
+ */
+package akka.routing;
+
+import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.BeforeClass;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import akka.actor.ActorRef;
+import akka.actor.ActorSystem;
+import akka.actor.Props;
+import akka.routing.RoundRobinRouter;
+import akka.testkit.ExtractRoute;
+
+public class CustomRouteTest {
+  
+  static private ActorSystem system;
+  
+  // only to test compilability
+  public void testRoute() {
+    final ActorRef ref = system.actorOf(new Props().withRouter(new RoundRobinRouter(1)));
+    final scala.Function1<scala.Tuple2<ActorRef, Object>, scala.collection.Iterable<Destination>> route = ExtractRoute.apply(ref);
+    route.apply(null);
+  }
+  
+}
diff --git a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/CustomRouteSpec.scala b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/CustomRouteSpec.scala
index a031ffcefa..940f76266c 100644
--- a/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/CustomRouteSpec.scala
+++ b/akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/CustomRouteSpec.scala
@@ -4,33 +4,45 @@
 package akka.routing
 
 import akka.testkit.AkkaSpec
-import akka.actor.Props
-import akka.actor.OneForOneStrategy
-import akka.actor.SupervisorStrategy
-import akka.dispatch.Dispatchers
-import akka.testkit.ExtractRoute
 
 @org.junit.runner.RunWith(classOf[org.scalatest.junit.JUnitRunner])
 class CustomRouteSpec extends AkkaSpec {
 
-  class MyRouter extends RouterConfig {
+  //#custom-router
+  import akka.actor.{ ActorRef, Props, SupervisorStrategy }
+  import akka.dispatch.Dispatchers
+
+  class MyRouter(target: ActorRef) extends RouterConfig {
     override def createRoute(p: Props, prov: RouteeProvider): Route = {
       prov.createAndRegisterRoutees(p, 1, Nil)
 
       {
-        case (sender, message) ⇒ toAll(sender, prov.routees)
+        case (sender, message: String) ⇒ Seq(Destination(sender, target))
+        case (sender, message)         ⇒ toAll(sender, prov.routees)
       }
     }
     override def supervisorStrategy = SupervisorStrategy.defaultStrategy
     override def routerDispatcher = Dispatchers.DefaultDispatcherId
   }
+  //#custom-router
 
   "A custom RouterConfig" must {
 
     "be testable" in {
-      val router = system.actorOf(Props.empty.withRouter(new MyRouter))
+      //#test-route
+      import akka.pattern.ask
+      import akka.testkit.ExtractRoute
+      import scala.concurrent.Await
+      import scala.concurrent.util.duration._
+
+      val target = system.actorOf(Props.empty)
+      val router = system.actorOf(Props.empty.withRouter(new MyRouter(target)))
       val route = ExtractRoute(router)
-      route(testActor -> "hallo").size must be(1)
+      val r = Await.result(router.ask(CurrentRoutees)(1 second).mapTo[RouterRoutees], 1 second)
+      r.routees.size must be(1)
+      route(testActor -> "hallo") must be(Seq(Destination(testActor, target)))
+      route(testActor -> 12) must be(Seq(Destination(testActor, r.routees.head)))
+      //#test-route
     }
 
   }
diff --git a/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst b/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst
index d9183e30b5..9ee9dca425 100644
--- a/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst
+++ b/akka-docs/scala/testing.rst
@@ -707,3 +707,17 @@ Some `Specs2 <http://specs2.org>`_ users have contributed examples of how to wor
 
 * Specifications are by default executed concurrently, which requires some care
   when writing the tests or alternatively the ``sequential`` keyword.
+
+Testing Custom Router Logic
+===========================
+
+Given the following custom (dummy) router:
+
+.. includecode:: ../../akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/CustomRouteSpec.scala#custom-router
+
+This might be tested by dispatching messages and asserting their reception at
+the right destinations, but that can be inconvenient. Therefore exists the
+:obj:`ExtractRoute` extractor, which can be used like so:
+
+.. includecode:: ../../akka-actor-tests/src/test/scala/akka/routing/CustomRouteSpec.scala#test-route
+
diff --git a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/Routing.scala b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/Routing.scala
index b32a2eb30a..54fb59b685 100644
--- a/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/Routing.scala
+++ b/akka-testkit/src/main/scala/akka/testkit/Routing.scala
@@ -8,6 +8,18 @@ import scala.annotation.tailrec
 import akka.actor.{ UnstartedCell, ActorRef }
 import akka.routing.{ RoutedActorRef, RoutedActorCell, Route }
 
+/**
+ * This object can be used to extract the `Route` out of a RoutedActorRef.
+ * These are the refs which represent actors created from [[akka.actor.Props]]
+ * having a [[akka.routing.RouterConfig]]. Use this extractor if you want to
+ * test the routing directly, i.e. without actually dispatching messages.
+ *
+ * {{{
+ * val router = system.actorOf(Props[...].withRouter(new MyRouter))
+ * val route = ExtractRoute(router)
+ * route(sender -> message) must be(...)
+ * }}}
+ */
 object ExtractRoute {
   def apply(ref: ActorRef): Route = {
     @tailrec def rec(tries: Int = 10): Route = {